Heating apparatus



Jan, 28, 1947. H. J. DE N. MccoLLUM' 2,414,829

HEATING APPARATUS Filed July 30, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet l H. J. DE N.MccQLLUM HEATING APPARATUS Filed July so, 1943 4 sheets-sheet 2 Jan. 28.1947. H. J. DE N. MGCQLLUM 2,414,829

HEATING APPARATUS Filed July 30, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 L30 i f' 67 ieg'Jan. 28, 1947. H. J. DE N. MccoLLUM 2,414,829

HEATING APPARATUS Filed July 30, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 gwen/JOM Mm e,

Patented Jan. 28, 1947 HEATING APPARATUS Henry J. DeN. McColl McCollum,McCollum, Warner tion of Virginia Corporation,

um, executrix of said Henry J. DeN. deceased, assignor to Stewart-Chicago, Ill., a corpora- Chicago, Ill. Thelma.

Application July 30,1943, serial No. 495,813

2 Claims.

My invention relates generally to heating apparatus, and moreparticularly to unit heaters.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved heating apparatuswhich will be operable to supply a blast of heated Ventilating airwithout the necessity of providing an external source of power.

A further object is to provide an internal combustion heating apparatusin which a portion of the energy of combustion causing the expansion ofthe products of combustion is utilized to draw the fuel mixture to thecombustion chamber and to force Ventilating air through the apparatus.

A further object is to provide an improved internal combustion typeheater incorporating electrical ignition means, and a generator forsupplying current to the ignition means.

A further object is to provide an improved heating apparatus which isautomatic in operation, simple in construction, and compact, and whichmay be economically manufactured.

Other objects will appear from the following description, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a generally vertical sectional view taken on the line I I ofFig. 2;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4 are fragmentary sectional views taken on the lines 3 3 and4 4 of Fig. l;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 2;and

Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. l, being substantially anend elevational view of the apparatus.

The heating apparatus is mounted on a suitable fabricated supportingframe comprising a pedestal I 0, base I2, and a reenforcing bar I4. Abracket I6, bolted to thepedestal I0, is `provided for the support of anantifriction bearing assembly I8. A similar antifriction bearingassembly 2D has its inner ring secured to a shaft 22, which isnon-rotatably secured to the upright portions 23, 24 of the frame.

A combustion chamber 28 is formed by a pair of heads 28, 29, rthe head28 being formed integrally with a peripheral wall 3D, the terminalflange 32 of which may be welded or brazed to a peripheral flange 34 onthe head 29.

A plurality of tubes 36 have their ends welded or otherwise suitablysecured in the heads 28 and 29 and ferm a heat exchanger havingpassageways for the flow of Ventilating air through the combustionchamber, effecting the transfer of heat from the products of combustionin the 2 combustion chamber to the Ventilating air to be heated.

Liquid fuel for combustion in the heating apparatus is supplied througha conduit 4U to a float bowl 42 mounted on the pedestal I0. The liquidfuel is drawn from the float bowl 42 through a tube 44 terminating in ajet nozzle 46. Jet openings 48 near the end of the nozzle 46 are locatedsubstantially` at the throat of a Venturi-shaped passageway 5D formed inan inlet fitting 52, which is secured to the inner race of theantifriction bearing assembly I8. The fitting 52 is suitably secured tothe combustion chamber head 28 and has a beveled portion 54 extendinginto the central portion of the com-V combustion from the combustionchamber 2B" into a space 62 formed by a casing or collector 84,preferably of sheet metal construction and comprising stampings 66 and61 secured to each other by bolts 68. The stampings 66 and 6'! haveflaring flanged portions l0 and 1I, respectively, which lie closelyadjacent the complementary surfaces of the peripheral wall 3D, therebeing merely suflicient clearance between these parts to permit freerotation of the combustion chamber assembly relative to the collectorcasing 64. The casing B4 is suitably secured to the supporting frameworkas by one or more brackets A blower housing lll, preferably in the formof two stampings 15 and 16, which may be welded together, is secured tothe flange 'Il of the housing 64 in any suitable manner, as by capscrews 18. A Sirocco type blower impeller 8U having blades 82, may beformed integrally with the flange 34 of the head 29, as shown in Fig. 1,or may be suitably secured thereto. In any event, the head 29 forms oneside wall of the impeller, the other side wall being provided by astamping 84, which is conformed to embrace the rotor 86 of a hightension alternator, being secured thereto by cap screws 88. The centralstator 90 of the high tension alternator is keyed to the shaft 22, theshaft having a reduced diameter extension projecting into a needlebearing assembly 92 carried by the rotor 86. The rotor 86 is secured toa reenforcing ring 94 by the cap screws 88, these screws extendingthrough suitable spacing posts 96, which are secured to the rotor 86.The rotor has a hub portion 91.

The output of the alternator is supplied to a pair of spark plugs 98,which are threaded in suitable sockets welded to the peripheral wall 30(Fig. 2), the connection being in series through suitably insulatedconductors |00. The conductors |00, as best shown in Fig. 3, passbetween the peripheral wall 30 and the complementally shaped angeportion 1| of the part 61, the wall 30 being provided with suitableindented grooves |02 to receive the wires |00. The passageway 62 is oflnvolute or scroll shape and terminates in an outlet tting |04, whichmay be connected to any suitable space for disposal of the products ofcombustion.

The blower housing 14 provides an involute or scroll-shaped passageway|06, which terminates in an outlet duct |08, which may be connected byany suitable duct system to the space to which heated Ventilating air isto be supplied.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that the collector casing 64 andhousing 14 are stationary, while the combustion chamber assembly andblower impeller, together with the rotor 86 of the alternator, arerotatable, the rotating portion of the assembly being supported upon thebearings |8 and 20.

In using the apparatus, the rotating assembly is initially rotated, asby means of a pull cord Wrapped about the hub 91 of the rotor 86. Uponsuch initial rotation of the parts, the com-bustion chamber casing withthe tubes 36 extending axially thereacross will operate in the manner ofa centrifugal blower to create a partial vacuum in the center thereofwhich will be eilective to draw a combustible mixture of fuel and airinto the central portion of the combustion chamber through the checkvalve 58. As soon as the com- -bustion chamber is substantially lledwith a combustible mixture, the mixture reaching the spark plugs 98,which are continuously emitting sparks, is ignited, producing anexplosion, whereupon the products of combustion are expelled at highvelocity from the reaction nozzles 60 into the scroll-shaped passageway62. The reaction of the products of combustion emitted from the nozzles60 accelerates the counterclockwise (Fig. 2) rotation of the partsthereby eiecting the discharge of the products of combustion from thecombustion chamber and causing the induction of a fresh charge into thecombustion chamber. As soon as the products of combustion aresubstantially discharged from the combustion chamber, the fresh supplyof combustible mixture will again reach the spark plugs 98 and ignitionwill again take place to cause a repetition of the foregoing cycle.

As the speed of rotation of the rotary assembly increases, the blowerimpeller 80 will become increasingly eiective to draw fresh air throughthe tubes 36, wherein the air will become heated, and the heated airwill be discharged by the blower through the scroll passageway |06 andoutlet duct |08 to the space to be heated.

- mined by the .rate at which the combustion chamber may be purged 0fthe products of combustion and supplied with a fresh charge, by thetorque necessary to be applied to rotate the Ventilating air blower. andby the rrictional resistance of the air and bearings, as well as by thenegligible power required to drive the alternator. Since the retardingtorques are mainly the result of air friction, and since such torquesvary as an exponential power of the speed of rotation, it will be clearthat the apparatus is self-governing as to its speed of rotation. Due tothe' rotary moment of inertia of the rotating assembly, the fact thatthe propelling torque is intermittent will not materially affect theuniformity of speed of rotation.

It will also be apparent that there are no spark timing problemsinvolved, since the spark plugs are substantially continuously energizedand are effective to ignite the mixture whenever the combustion chamberbecomes filled with a combustible mixture. The timing of the explosionsthus is in effect automatically controlled.

When it is desired to stop the apparatus, the supply of fuel may be shutoff by any suitable valve mechanism, such as a stop cock l2 (Fig. 1) inthe conduit 44 which supplies the fuel to the nozzle 46. i

The broader subject matter disclosed in this application is claimed inthe copending application of Henry J. DeN. McCollum, Serial No. 508,169,filed October 29, 1943.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of myinvention, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that numerousmodications and variations may be made therein without departing fromthe underlying principles of the invention. I therefore, desire, by thefollowing claims, to include within the scope of my invention all suchmodifications and Variations whereby substantially the results of myinvention may be obtained by the use of substantially the same orequivalent means.

I claim:

l. In an apparatus of the class described, the combination of a support,a collector for products of combustion and a blower housing carried bysaid support, a rotary assembly comprising a combustion chamber casingsurrounded by said collector, means for supplying a combustible mixtureto the combustion chamber comprising an induction tube centrally locatedwith respect tc the combustion chamber casing and terminating within thecombustion chamber in a valve seat, a resilient flexible reed type valveprovided for engagement with the seat to prevent the discharge ofproducts of combustion through the induction tube, a plurality ofreaction nozzles carried by the combustion chamber casing for effectingthe discharge of products therefrom into said collector, heat exchangemeans providing passageways extending through the combustion chamber andinto the space within the blower housing means including a blowerimpeller rotatable wit said casing and operable to cause the flow oVentilating air through the passageways in th heat exchanger and toforce the air thus heated `to a space to be heated, and electricalignition means operating substantially continuously to ignite thecombustible mixture in the combustion chamber.

2. The combination set forth fin claim 1,"in which the induction tubeincludes a Venturishaped passageway rotating with the combustion chambercasing and there is provided a stationary fuel jet nozzle projectinginto the Venturi-shaped passageway substantially to the 6 throat of thelatter.

HENRY J. D EN. MCCOLLUM.

